It’s a radiantly beautiful day here in Northern California; 46 degrees and a bit cool for us, but if it’s bright and sunny I don’t mind a chilly day.

Here are a couple of cards that we received this week from family back east where they invented fall and autumn colors 🙂

Kathy made a nice monochromatic card with Really Rust ink and card stock. She accented the floral motif with dots of glitter and repeated the dots in the embossed background.

Sherry has carefully constructed a four-paneled door from card stock, ink and the Stampin’ Up! Hardwood background stamp. A doorknob made from a brad, and a wreath from the Wondrous Wreath set in fall colors complete this sweet and unique card.

Happy Thanksgiving to all! May we all reflect on what we are most grateful for at this season of the year.

While some items will be carrying over to the Spring Occasions sales period, most of the stamps and products in the Holiday Catalog will be retiring soon! They will only be available, while supplies last, through January 4, 2016. To view the Holiday catalog, click the image on the right sidebar, or call or email me for your own copy. Contact me also for information on availability of specific products!

In the meantime, here’s a Thanksgiving Banner project that you can make with the retiring Thankful Forest Friends set. All materials used are listed below:

While retiring products such as the Into the Woods Designer Series Paper and accessories like the wooden Elements used here will be “while supplies last,” all retiring stamp sets will be manufactured through December 28th for your convenience.

Products used in the Give Thanks Banner: (first three are retiring – order early!)

Although I live in California once again, as the seasons change nostalgia fills my memory for those traditional scenes of New England winter holidays. I was 17 when my family moved from California to Vermont, and the first snow flurries of the year scattered about as we settled into our new home in mid-October. A couple of months later, I was rudely awakened in the dead of night by what sounded like a loud collision on the road outside my bedroom window! It was my first introduction to the scraping and clattering of a municipal snow plow rumbling by. I learned to feel safe and cozy when I heard that sound, because it meant that someone was out there, clearing our roads so that life could go on as usual the next day.

Like this:

It’s been an eventful week; teaching school and getting everything out of the master bathroom so that it could be completely demolished on Friday – yes, we are finally getting our bedroom and bathroom remodeling started! Everything went as planned except for one thing:

Miss Egypt

Egypt – whose middle name ought to be Mischief! We kept our youngest and most curious cat in one of the smaller bedrooms while the workmen did their deconstruction. When they were done, all that was left of the shower stall was the 2″ x 4″ wall framing and the plywood flooring – and a hole where the drain had been, open to the crawl space underneath the house. After the guys left, we let Egypt out of the bedroom, not thinking, “Where will she go first?”

Straight to where she had been kept away from, all morning! A beeline to the hole in the floor. Down under the house. Well, there was no use calling her; cats don’t mind you. We just shut the bedroom door so none of the other cats would follow her down there, and we waited an hour or two. She finally came back out. On her time.

So, it was great that my friend Anna came over today to work on the September Paper Pumpkin kit with me. A good way to relax after a busy week!

We worked on our Wickedly Sweet Treats kits; here are mine all made up and filled with treats for the ladies from church that I Visit Teach monthly. As you can see, Ziggy is checking them out, because he is quite interested in anything to do with “treats.” We wouldn’t have had to worry about Ziggy being able to follow Egypt down the shower drain hole, no matter how exciting that might have been! His ample girth also keeps him confined to the backyard and unable to climb the fence like Eddie (sigh.)

Here’s what Anna decided to do with her Paper Pumpkin kit: as an alternative to the kit instructions she used her materials to make these jaunty scarecrow treat bags! She will also be able to use the eight leftover pieces of fringed kraft paper strung together and decorated to make a Halloween or Thanksgiving banner.

The Paper Pumpkin box pictured is not the usual orange color; that was the October Blissful Bouquet kit that we just got and Stampin’ Up! donated $1.00 for every kit sold this month to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, plus an additional $1.00 for every new subscription in October.

To find out how to get your creative escape in a Paper Pumpkin box each month, follow this link to My Paper Pumpkin.

Isn’t it amazing how a small thing like a spool of ribbon can inspire you to make an entire card? One of the items on our Weekly Deals today is Wild Wasabi Seam Binding Ribbon for 25% off, and that’s where I started when designing this Foxy Thanks card. I’ve also been loving the Into the Woods Designer Series Paper, the Thankful Forest Friends stamp set, and the Into the Woods Elements, all of which go so well together. You can see them all on page 43 of the Holiday Catalog – click the image on the side bar to the right to browse the entire catalog online!

And here are all of the Weekly Deals, while supplies last, through Oct. 19th; click any image for more information or to order:

Here’s an interesting way to use the Vintage Leaves stamps and coordinating Leaflets Framelits by cutting the leaves out of colored card stock and inserting them into a frame panel on the front of the card. This demonstrator did a few different things with the leaves; she stamped the red oak leaf with the original image from the stamp set, but did a plaid pattern on the green maple leaf and stippling on the yellow aspen. She treated the background frame to some brayering and outlining in gold ink and the overall effect of it all is very pleasing.

Card designed by Kerry Hansing. Stamp Set: Thankful Forest Friends

This next card is similar to the birthday card that I made a few days ago (see http://stampingwithvalory.com/2015/09/26/happy-birthday-papa-bear/) but one nice feature here is the Blackberry Bliss panel behind the sentiment that has been embossed with the Woodgrain embossing folder. I like that pop of unexpected color there, and the woodsy feel really enhances the look. The nice thing about the sentiment is that it would be a perfect Thanksgiving card, but it could also be used as a very appropriate fall-themed thank-you card!

Here are some of the products used to make the Hello Fall! card; click on any picture for more information or to order:

Yes, it’s Weekly Deals time, but before I get to that, it’s also finally time to order from the Holiday Catalog! All of those cards that I’ve been showing you from my Demonstrator’s swap day were made with new holiday sets and products from there, like this card that my friend Ann made with the Lighthearted Leaves set. I love the masking and sponging technique she used on this; isn’t it creative?

Here I am, with Ann in the middle and our other demonstrator friend Jo on the right. You can see all the busy women, stamping their hearts out behind us:

But before I forget, here are the Weekly Deals, on sale from Tuesday, September 1st through Monday, September 7th. Click on any picture for more information or to order!

Well, these past few days have been interesting… to say the least! And that is a very mild way to put it.

First, I was minding my own business, teaching kindergarten, when a somewhat bewildered secretary, and then principal, had to let me know that out of the blue, the District Office had just sent over a newly hired, recently graduated young lady to teach the class that I’d been requested by them to teach until February. What?! Such is the fate of a substitute. Never mind that I have 20+ years of teaching experience, a clear credential and a Masters in Education. This is what happens when you’re not protected by a contract. Anyway, they asked me to stay on for three days to help the new teacher get situated, which I did.

And maybe that was good timing, because the last day of work, my refrigerator died – spooky! I spent the whole next day looking for a new one. I have been packing three different coolers full of ice to keep our food cold while we wait for the delivery of our new, stainless steel Frigidaire today. Yay! I’m getting a little tired of camping inside the house.

But camping brings to mind “the woods,” and now that I have a little more free time, I’ve been playing with my Among the Branches stamp set and Woodland embossing folder from the new Holiday catalog:

I love the birch trees on this 6″ square embossing folder, the bird silhouettes and the neat laser cut Spider Web Doilies that I used on this card. Happy Halloween!

Here is another example using the birch trees for a Thanksgiving themed card:

I took the “with a grateful heart” sentiment from the new Happy Scenes stamp set; I superimposed it over the words that were there (& tasty dishes) because I wanted it to reflect the “attitude of gratitude” that we feel at Thanksgiving time. And it’s a good reminder to me to be thankful for my blessings, whatever they might be; yes, my teaching assignment changed, but I’m getting a brand new refrigerator – so it’s all good!